8 Inspirational T-Shirt Design Ideas For Your Next Shirt

Designing a custom t-shirt can feel overwhelming—especially if you're trying to break the mould a bit and create something unique, memorable, and impactful.

We see a LOT of t-shirts and custom designs coming through daily at our print shop in Melbourne —and we've gathered a list of some qualities that we've noticed seem to be a recipe for success when developing a t-shirt design that's sure to inspire!

1. Black base garment, bold contrast

Choosing a dark coloured base t shirt with bold contrast print colours will make your designs pop and come to life. Black coloured T Shirts are the most popular colour when it comes to t shirts and the AS Colour Staple Tee comes on top in terms of fit, weight and quality.

2. Type mixed with geometric shapes

Geometrical design (GD) is a branch of computational geometry. It deals with the construction and representation of free-form curves, surfaces, or volume and is closely related to geometric modelling. We see a lot of these geometrical t shirt designs come through with tech companies for their logo branding and even clothing labels who we've seen use it to showcase mountains or geographical landscapes.

3. Typography T-Shirt designs

Typography, in its most basic form, is the visual arrangement of words (not to be confused with the font, which is the style of the text). Anytime text gets printed or displayed, good or bad, there is typography involved.

In graphic design, typography is the art of typesetting: arranging type in a way that makes sense, along with choosing appropriate typefaces (fonts), making sure the letter spacing and line spacing is correct, and designing the way the words interact with the graphic elements to be aesthetically pleasing.

But you don’t need to be a trained artist to get the typography right. You just need to follow some basic rules.

Your font choice says a lot. It conveys a significant amount of information and can convey certain ideas or evoke emotions–that may not be intentional. We’re all conditioned to attribute certain characteristics to certain fonts from a lifetime of looking at logos, graphics and ads.

If your T-shirt design is for a family reunion, the “Batman” font is not the best way to convey that. If you’re going for a more corporate or professional look, avoid “Comic Sans” (real talk, always avoid Comic Sans).

Certain standard fonts will work well for just about anything, other fonts will only look right in specific contexts. Exploring your options is well worth the extra time. For T-shirt purposes, here’s a few rules of thumb you can apply to your design:

• The most important words should be the boldest and towards the top.
• Avoid gigantic block lettering. You’re not designing the side of a bus.
• Using fonts with contrasting styles adds visual interest–just don’t overdo it.
• Consider where you put your line breaks; they instruct how your message reads.
• Thoughtfully layout how the type interacts with the imagery.
• Avoid putting type directly on top of busy images. It can make it much harder to read.
• Effects like textures and drop shadows should be used sparingly, if at all.

Want a crash course in understanding typography? Practical Typography is a great little site packed with good information that can answer your most basic questions on this topic.

3. Alternating big and small prints

Out of all the printed t-shirt orders we do here at Machine I would have to say this print combination of the front pocket and big print size on the back would have to be our most common and popular choice. Wether it's on t-shirts, custom hoodies, long sleeve tees, you can't go wrong with this approach. It's definitely the go to print combination to promote your business and clothing brand.

4. Front and centre designs (big or small)

We've noticed this design trend come through a lot with custom t-shirt printing orders this year at Machine and with good reason. It's fun, simple and a slightly different approach to the traditional and standard print position of the front pocket print that we're so use to seeing. If you're looking for something different on your next order of t-shirts, this is a great choice to mix things up and offer your customers or staff a new point of difference. Here at Machine Screen Printers, we offer free digital mock up proofs, so if you ever just wanted to get an idea on how your next order and design could look like, just reach out and ask away.

5. Photo-realistic prints

Photo-realism is a great way for artists to showcase their photography skills, or their collage-making skills. Photo-realism can really make a design stand out above the rest, simply because details can really make a difference. One important thing to remember is to use your OWN photography, or make sure to pay for the photos. Good Luck on your next project!

6. Big and bold on the back

It’s obvious that strong, eye-catching typographic treatments are on-trend and here to stay. Like in every other arena, fortune clearly favours the bold! Now that you’ve seen how they can work in almost area of design, you can work the trend into your next design.

7. Inspirational quotes

We love a good motivational saying or design. They are honestly our favourites types of designs to see on apparel. Not only do they give us motivation but they really make us strive to do better in so many aspects of life. They might even give you some motivation and inspiration to creating some really unique t-shirt designs to inspire, motivate and lift the spirit of others and help spread the message of your company or clothing brand.

Not only can you use them as your own designs, you can customise them with your own motivational sayings or quotes, as well as your own print colours and fonts.

Need more inspiration? Check out this page of inspirational quotes from the good folk at Dribble.

8. Subtle tonal looks

Tonal printing, a phrase we happened to have coined ourselves, is a recent technology that uses water-based ink to achieve a hue somewhat lighter (Tonal Light) or somewhat darker (Tonal Dark) than the colour of the garment. It creates a very subtle print, so if you’re looking for something uncommonly fun that feels appropriately aged, tonal light or tonal dark will get you there.

Custom T-shirt printing is among the most economical and thrilling ways to advertise your business. Screen printing on custom T-shirts is an excellent option for numerous applications like marketing, brand marketing, new product launches, school spirit equipment, business networking, conferences and trade shows, and many more. Custom-screen-printed t-shirts can also provide an array of designs to meet your exact requirements.

Ready to start designing your next shirt? Reach out to our team and we'll have you on your way to an inspirational design of your own in no time.